Device and method for imparting oribtal motion to a wheeled carriage

ABSTRACT

A device for imparting an orbital and oscillation motion to a wheeled carriage, a cot, or the like, for soothing a baby; the device comprises a housing having an upper section and a lower section. The upper section is provided with molded concave sections adapted to receive the wheels of the carriage, cot or the like, and the lower section is provided on a substantially flat surface. Within the housing, a drive is positioned to provide relative movement between the sections.

The present invention relates to a device and method for impartingorbital motion to a wheeled carriage, and in particular, to providingorbital motion to a baby carriage. Such orbital motion has been provento be soothing to a distraught baby.

One of the most distressing experiences of any adult is the continuouscrying of a baby. In many cases the baby may be soothed easily, forexample by feeding, however, there are times when adults find the onlyway to soothe the baby is by rocking the baby in a carriage or cot orthe like. Unfortunately, in our modern society, it is becomingincreasingly rare that adults have the time available to soothe aninfant in this manner.

The reason infants are soothed by continuous motion is not considered indepth here but has been assumed to stem from the infants pre-natalperiod within the mother's womb.

It is a well known fact that continuous motion is an effective method ofsoothing a disturbed baby however the reasons behind this fact are notas well known.

In the development of the present invention it was considered that thereason babies are soothed by continuous motion stems back to the babiespre-natal life within the mothers womb, a period of well-being andsecurity for the baby.

Many devices other than motion producing devices have been developed inan attempt to trigger a feeling of well-being within a disturbed baby,such as recordings of a mothers heart beat as would be heard by thefoetus in the placenta, recordings of placental noise, etc. It isconsidered that these devices only achieve the desired result when theyare placed in combination with other triggering mechanisms.

In consideration of the prior art, Australian Patent ApplicationAU-A-21314/83 by Blou is directed towards an apparatus for automaticallyrocking a child's bed to soothe a child or baby. Although this inventiondescribes the principle of imparting motion to a wheeled baby carriagethe aspect of foetal movement within the placenta has not beenconsidered. As a result the accelerations and decelerations of thewheeled baby carriage in a to and fro direction do not emulate thenatural motion of a foetus within a placenta, and, as such, may nottrigger the feeling of well-being so desired. AU-A-21314/83, althoughcombining vertical and horizontal vector components within the basesdescribed, does not achieve a smoothe orbital motion as is the case ofthe present invention, but a jerked to and fro, acceleration -deceleration motion due to the method of attachment of the baby carriageto the device. Furthermore, this invention could not be consideredportable due to the bulk of the device, and, as such, would not proveuseful to a modern mother on-the-go.

Australian Patent Application AU-A-54037/86 by Toyer is also directedtowards a bed rocking apparatus. Although Toyer has recognised thebenefits available to adults, the needs of infants have been neglected,and subsequently, the invention of AU-A-54037/86 by Toyer is subject toa vertical to and fro movement due to the method of attachment of thebed to the device, and, as such, does not emulate the orbital motionencountered by a foetus in a placenta and will go little way totriggering a baby's foetal recollection. Furthermore, the device ofAU-A-54037/86 is substantially bulky and burdensome, and, as such,although claimed to be portable, does not lend itself to use by a modernmother.

The present invention seeks to overcome or at least ameliorate theproblems associated with the prior art and offer adults a truelyportable device which will soothe a disturbed infant by triggeringfoetal recollections of well being.

In one broad form, the present invention provides a device for impartingorbital motion to a wheeled baby carriage or cot, said device comprising

a housing having upper and lower sections, said upper section adapted toreceive wheels of said baby carriage or cot, and said lower sectionadapted to support said device on a substantially flat surface; and,

drive means located within said housing, adapted to provide relativemovement between each of said upper and lower sections such thatrelative orbital movement is imparted to said baby carriage or cotpositioned on said upper section.

In a further broad form, the present invention provides a device forimparting orbital motion to a wheeled baby carriage or cot said devicecomprising:

a housing formed in two slidably engageable halves, a bottom half formounting said device on a flat surface and an upper half formed toaccept at least two co-axially mounted wheels of a baby carriage, drivemeans located within the two slidably engageable halves of the housinghaving at least two co-axially aligned shafts mounted at opposite endsthereof, said shafts extending in substantially parallel relationshipsto an axis of said at least two co-axially aligned shafts mounted atopposite ends thereof, said shafts extending in substantially parallelrelationships to an axis of said at least two co-axially mounted wheelsof a baby carriage, at least two torque convertors attached to the atleast two co-axially aligned shafts, said torque convertors converting alow torque output from the drive means into a high torque input for atleast two cams, said at least two cams connected to the torqueconvertors by transmission shafts, said transmission shafts aresupported by a mounted bearing and being in substantially parallelrelationship to the axis of said at least two-co-axially mounted wheelsof a baby carriage and extending between the torque convertors and saidcams, whereas in use, the upper half of the housing is caused toreciprocate by the high torque rotation of the cams being rotated by thedrive means through the torque convertors.

It is a further aspect of the present invention to provide a method ofassembling a wheeled baby carriage onto a device for imparting orbitalmotion to the baby carriage whereby, said device is mounted on asubstantially flat surface, at least two co-axially aligned front orrear wheels of said baby carriage are positioned on an upper half ofsaid device to substantially describe an orbital motion, said orbitalmotion being translated to the baby carriage.

The invention will now be described by way of example only withreference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 is a cross sectional elevation of the embodiment of FIG. 1through line 2--2; and,

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional elevation of the embodiment of FIG. 1through line 3--3;

The device for imparting orbital motion to a baby's carriage or cot,generally designated by the numeral 1, is comprised of a lower housing 2over which is slidably mounted an upper housing 3. The lower housing 2has an electric motor 4 mounted therein by mechanical fastening means(not shown). Torque convertors 5 are mounted at each end of the electricmotor 4 and driven by shafts (not shown), extending from the electricmotor 4 into the torque convertors 5. The torque convertors 5 are, inturn, connected to the lifting cams 6 by cam shafts 16 which aresupported by mounted bearings 17.

Application of electricity to the electric motor 4 causes the electricmotor 4 to rotate the lifting cam 6 by driving through the torqueconvertors 5. The torque convertors 5 increase the torque from theelectric motor to enable the lifting cams 6 to raise and lower the upperhousing 3 against the weight of the baby carriage or cot (not shown) asmay be distributed across it.

To ensure the upper housing 3 is uniformly raised and lowered by thelifting cams 6, four pistons 7 are extended from the upper housing 3 Thepistons 7 are secured to the lower housing 3 by way of bosses 8. Toensure sufficient contact surface between the pistons 7 and the upperhousing 3, bearing bosses 8 are integrally formed with the upper housing3. To prevent skewing of the upper housing 3 the pistons slide withincylinders 9 mounted in a relative position to the lower housing 2. Tofurther prevent skewing, the sides 10 of the upper housing 3 are formedto slidably fit over and outside of the lower housing sides 11 of thelower housing 2. The upper housing is held in place by waY of regulatingscrews 14 located at ends AA which permits vertical travel of upperhousing 3 but prevents the housings from separating.

The upper housing 3 is also provided with integrally formed bearingsurfaces 12 which are located in bearing relationship to the liftingcams 6. These bearing surfaces 12 serve to prolong the life of thedevice.

To facilitate the orbital motion required to be imparted to the babycarriage or cot (not shown), the upper housing 3 has integrally formedconcave surfaces 13 in which the wheels of the babY carriage or cot (notshown) are located. These surfaces 13 may either be two dimensionallyconcave or three-dimensionally concave.

By placing the front or rear wheels of a baby carriage not shown) on theupper housing 3 such that they are located within the formed concavesurfaces 13 and causing the upper housing 3 to oscillate as previouslydescribed, the wheels of the baby carriage or cot are lifted, thislifting also causes the wheels to try to ride up the concave surfacewhile gravity causes the wheels (not shown) to roll back to the naturalposition thus causing the baby carriage wheels located in the formedconcave surfaces 13 to describe an arcuate movement of 180°. As theupper housing 3 is lowered, the wheels of the baby carriage or cot arealso lowered to their starting position, however, as the baby carriageor cot has moved forward of its original position the wheels of the babycarriage or cot are once again caused to ride up the concave surfacewhilst gravity causes the wheels to roll back to the natural positionthus causing the wheels of the baby carriage or cot, located in theconcave surfaces 13 to describe an arcuate movement of 180° opposite tothe arcuate movement described hereinbefore when the upper housing 3lifts the wheels. The nett result is that the wheels of the babycarriage or cot are caused to describe a full orbit of 360° during oneoscillation of the upper housing 3 of the device 1.

It is believed that this type of constant radial acceleration andorbital motion best describes the motion undergone by a foetus within aplacenta, and thus, best triggers a baby's foetal recollection of wellbeing and security experienced within a mothers womb.

As the radial acceleration and orbital motion experienced by a foetusduring pregnancy will vary from mother to mother, the device 1 is fittedwith a torque control 15 to control the torque applied to the liftingcams 6. These cams are of constant diameter but have projections ofvarying dimensions. Thus the vertical acceleration applied to the upperhousing 3 through greater torque being applied in conjunction with a cam6 having a higher projection results in a greater orbital motion andradial acceleration being applied to the baby carriage or cot.

The torque control 15 permits sufficient torque application to shaftsand cams to enable the device to easily lift heavier carriages and/orcots.

In application of the device of the present invention to a baby carriageto facilitate the portability of the device 1 the height of the device 1is about 80 mm, the length is about 700 mm and the width is about 150mm, with an all up weight of about 4 kg. This size and weight willfacilitate easily handling by mothers who also have other things tocontest with like their babies.

It is intended that the device be formed of plastic to reduce the all upweight, however any sturdy material may be used.

In application of the device of the present invention to a cot, stillallows the device to become portable. The device may, however byconstructed in any size, depending on the particular application.

While particular embodiments of this invention have been described, itwill be evident to those skilled in the art that the Present inventionmay be embodiment in other specific forms without departing from theessential characteristics thereof. The present embodiments and examplesare therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and notrestrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appendedclaims rather than by the foregoing description, and all changes whichcome within the meaning the range of equivalency of the claims aretherefore intended to be embraced therein.

I claim:
 1. A device for imparting oscillation motion to a wheeled babycarriage or cot, the device comprising:a housing having an upper sectionand a lower section, said upper section having upwardly facing concavesurfaces and receiving and supporting wheels of the baby carriage or cotthereon, said lower section being adapted to support said device on asubstantially flat surface; drive means located within said housing andadapted to impart a vertical oscillation movement to said upper sectionrelative to said lower section; cylinders integrally formed in saidlower section; and pistons connected to and extending downwardly fromsaid upper section and adapted to engage in said cylinders in said lowersection to limit the amount of said oscillation movement between saidsections and prevent skewing of said upper section, whereby oscillatoryand orbital motions are imparted to said wheels of the baby carriage orcot, resulting from said vertical oscillation movement and a rollingmotion of said wheels along said concave surface as said upper sectionwith said carriage or cot thereon is lifted relative to said lowersection by said drive means.
 2. The device as claimed in claim 1,wherein said drive means comprise a pair of lifting cams engaging saidupper section at an underside thereof and spaced from each other, twotorque converters connected to said cams, and an electric motorconnected to said torque converters and adapted to rotate said liftingcams via said torque converters so that each lifting cam imparts saidvertical oscillation movement to said upper section against the weightof said baby carriage or cot positioned thereon.
 3. The device asclaimed in claim 1, wherein four of said pistons are provided in saidhousing, which are connected in spaced apart relationship.
 4. The deviceas claimed in claim 1, wherein said upwardly facing concave surfaces aretwo-dimensionally concave, across a longitudinal axis of said device. 5.The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said upwardly facing concavesurfaces are three-dimensionally concave, across both longitudinal andtransverse axes of said device.
 6. A device for imparting orbital motionto a wheeled baby carriage or cot, the device comprising:a housingincluding two slidably engageable halves, a bottom half being adaptedfor mounting said device on a flat surface and an upper half beingformed to receive at least two co-axially mounted wheels of a babycarriage; and drive means located within said two slidably engageablehalves of the housing and including a drive, at least two co-axiallyaligned shafts mounted at opposite ends of said drive, said shafts eachextending in a substantially parallel relationship to an axis of said atleast two co-axially mounted wheels of a baby carriage, at least twotorque convertors attached to said at least two co-axially alignedshafts, respectively, and at least two cams, said torque convertorsconverting a low torque output from said drive into a high torque inputfor said at least two cams, said at least two cams being connected tosaid torque convertors, respectively, by transmission shafts, saidtransmission shafts being each supported by a bearing and being insubstantially parallel relationship to the axis of said at leasttwo-co-axially mounted wheels of a baby carriage and extending betweensaid torque convertors and said cams, wherein in use, the upper half ofsaid housing is caused to oscillate by the high torque rotation of saidat least two cams being rotated by said drive means through said atleast two torque convertors.
 7. The device as claimed in claim 6,wherein said drive comprises an electric motor adapted to rotate eachcam via a respective torque converter, such that each of said cams isadapted to raise and lower said upper half against the weight of thebaby carriage or cot positioned thereon.